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Short Story: High on Coffee

He pulled her towards his bare chest and said, “We have almost found the exact thing”

“But how did you find it,” exclaimed Vaishnavi as she unclipped herself from Surendar’s arms, with her eyes full of excitement, and sat upright in the bed.

Vaishnavi was restless in her black spaghetti tops and crimson crushed cotton shorts, as it was a breakthrough in their research project for their final year course on journalism.

“Please tell me, now. puhleeeessss” she begged.

“Okay, I’ll just tell you how I found out. Remaining details, I’ll show you tomorrow”

“Okay, what’s it?” enquired Vaishnavi.

“I visited my native yesterday. There I met this person who takes care of Crematory,” sighed Surendar and said, “He helped me in collecting few samples from buried corpse”

“What’s that? Did you get them here?”

“Yes”

“Come on let me see…” said Vaishnavi excitingly with her eyes wide open.

“No, not now. I said tomorrow, in the library.”

“Okay…” she said frowning.

It was already half past eleven pm on a Sunday night. She has placed her head in his chest and he was caressing the strands of hair falling on her forehead, thinking about tomorrow’s course of actions. Just two months remaining for thesis submission. His heart was thumping fast. She could clearly hear the vibrations. He was slowly dozing off, holding her in his arms. In a few minutes, she too drifted to the land of dreams as she closed her eyes resting on her beloved’s chest.

●●●

Sitting alone in my room in the fifth floor of my apartment, it was very difficult for me to resist the urge. The urge to do it. I always tried to control my senses, but this time again, and every time, I fail before my own senses. I stand before my sub conscious, my head hanging down, and my own mind impregnated with the guilt.

The guilt of failure!

Failing to control things, I got up from my bean bag, slowly walked towards the fridge and pulled the tray right below the freezer. It was supposed to be a milk tray.

I liked it cold rather than hot. I grabbed one of those pieces chilled and fresh dipped in honey. I couldn’t wait for my senses to capture the object that is going to be consumed by me. I was faster than my mind.

It took me 3 minutes to complete and burp in satisfaction. I drank a full Bisleri bottle of cold water.

The feeling was amazing. No one in my apartment enjoys eating things like me. I always cherish my food while eating. Many don’t do it well. I’m good at it.

I like this loneliness. No one comes to visit me, except one or two apartment mates who come up to inform me of their meeting or the watchman who delivers couriers.

I walked to my table and opened my laptop and drowned inside it.

●●●

The university library complex was buzzing with the noise from inquisitive and juvenile students, who were eager to gain knowledge faster than copying a single word file from one folder to another.

Surendar walked towards the Central Library and turned towards the Journal sections. Vaishnavi was waiting in the study table.

“Show me, what you have got?” enquired Vaishnavi with inquisitiveness.

He took the small plastic cover and shoved it to her. It was a small patch like brownish material.

She placed it in her palms and touched it with her finger. It was soft and little cold.

“Why is this cold and what the hell is this, by the way?” Vaishnavi was puzzled looking at the specimen she was holding it.

“Can’t you recognize?”

“No, err…looks very creepy”

“It’s the sheath of human skin!” declared Surendar.

“Whaaaaaaaaat!!” She almost shouted terrified by the object.

“Hey, don’t shout. Be calm, this may be of some use to our research.” said Surendar.

“Are you gone nuts? How is this piece of skin gonna help us?”

“I’ve preserved it. It’s the skin of the fresh body. Just a day old.”

“Yikesss!!,” she was disgusted at this, “Okay, how do you think this is going to help us?”

“May be we can submit this along with the report. We can give this in the lab for blood analysis”

“Hmmm….this is not required I guess. It seems to be creepy to have all these things with us”

“Don’t worry dear. We will give it in the lab. One of my friends is working in laboratory. We will give this sample to get possible details from this for our research.” explained Surendar.

“But how do you know this the skin sample of what we are looking for?”

“Well, this skin belongs to the tribe that lives deep in the forest. This person, who I met in my native, lives near that forest area. So we are almost close”

“I’m little afraid of all these things Suren”

He held her hand and said, “Don’t worry, we will have to go to this extent to document our thesis report.”

“It’s time for the class, we‘ll meet in lunch” said Vaishnavi and left the library thinking about Surendar’s actions.

●●●

It was almost 11.54 pm.

Few more minutes to attain the 24th hour of this day – This wee hour and its calmness or rather the silence – deadly silence, is what I should appreciate, for giving me company in this hour. It gave me an eerie loneliness.

I’ve always loved the loneliness. This gave me extra freedom to do things which I wished. It is just another night I’m here in my apartment. I could sense my bowels longing for something to digest, something to extract from and dissolve in its inner muscles.

I opened the fridge, scanned its contents – Two bread packets, a bowl of assorted fruits, jam sachets, Water bottles.

I squatted and pulled the vegetable tray. This time, it was quite big; I couldn’t keep it in the milk tray. I lifted the huge piece of flesh frozen with chilled blood. This is not worth the mention as a ‘piece’ rather a ‘meat’ itself. How can someone not enjoy the huge piece of a severed male hand, fresh and hardened right from the shoulder socket to the palms with clenched fingers?

I just loved the taste of this guy’s thickened blood. Must be O’ positive!

It took me exactly one hour and twenty five minutes to completely finish the big piece leaving the bones in the kitchen dust bin.

The belch was so exhilarating. A stomach full of human flesh and I could empathize my intestines’ effort to digest a human meat.

I opened the fridge again and took the bottle of water and emptied it in my mouth with the water descending down my oesophagus right down to my intestines – round & round & round.

I opted for the couch to spend the rest of the night. The clock was ticking away the glorious moments of lonely cold hours of the night.

●●●

Another Sunday morning!

Vaishnavi got up late as usual.

Coffee was ready by then and it was in her table hot and fresh. Surendar had already served the coffee in the cups.

Vaishnavi has just woken up, out of bed and with clumsy hair. She was so lazy to get up and brush.

“Coffee…” offered Surendar.

“I’ll have to brush my teeth” frowned Vaishnavi.

“That’s okay, have bed coffee for now. You can brush later” he smiled.

Vaishnavi leaned forward to pick one of the cups when Surendar interrupted.

“No no, this is for me. Too much sugar in this. Take this one,” saying so Surendar picked up the coffee cup and offered Vaishnavi.

She wondered. How much caring is he! We should be like this after our marriage too. Eight more months remaining to complete the PG course and get settled in life; Before that she had a great responsibility of informing her parents about their relationship – two years of nurtured and incubated love.

“I wish, every morning I wake up on your face” Vaishnavi said right from her heart and Surendar continued, “and you want me to make coffee everyday and serve you right in your bed, ugh!?”, he said with affectionate sarcasm.

“Yeah! Of course, you should serve me each and every other day” winked Vaishnavi.

She sipped the coffee. It was much sweeter than her own coffee which she makes.

“I made it for you dear” said Surendar.

“Ohh that’s so sweet of ya!” she hugged him drinking the remaining of the coffee.

“It’s a human flesh” said Suren. Rajeev couldn’t control his excitement.

“Dude, what the hell….” he was wide eyed now.

“It’s for my thesis” replied Surendar.

“Dude, you are freaking! Come on lets discuss this in my bay”

He took both of them to his private bay.

Surendar took some 20 minutes to explain about his research and what he wanted.

“Okay I can help you with this” but not professionally, I can help you out personally. But with this piece of flesh, it has to be legal”

“Alright, we need just few details to be confirmed. Please help me with that” asked Surendar.

Rajeev took the packet and placed it in the freezer.

“Okay, leave this to me. I’ll let both of you know about everything you wanted next Saturday”

“Ohhh! That will be great!” Both of them agreed.

“Shall we break for tea? Even you people can join for lunch with me” invited Rajeev.

All of them walked towards the Cafeteria. Rajeev was letting out an eerie smile as both of them walked.

●●●

I’m more inclined towards eating flesh these days. I’m not able to control my meat hunger. I’m not sure how long this will go on. I need to make arrangements for the same. A bulk quantity may be. Couldn’t rely on these small chunks for long!

I need to be more skilled in procuring them. I’ve to eat a variety of them. Probably I may have to try somewhere else too and not just relying on the Graveyard man.

All those paneer pieces appear to be a human flesh these days. Am I normal? Yes of course, why not? People are ignorant. Once when they unveil the hidden taste in them, they can unleash their secret wishes and desires.

This man whose fingers, I’m munching now – those cold fingers, must be a real macho. It’s too hard to eat. Probably it has to be cooked.

As the frozen blood mixed with water droplets, they have become more gooey. It’s dripping from my lips and over my fingers. This is real hard to eat – more flesh, more blood and more strain over my teeth!

I entered the kitchen, switched on the Gas Stove and ignited it. As the burner caught fire and glowed in a blue flame – a complete combustion, I could smell the odour of Ethyl Mercaptan slightly. Yes, this Mercaptan substance is added in small quantities in Liquefied Petroleum Gas cylinders to detect the leakage of cylinders. I held the amputated finger right above the flame on the open part where the white and red flesh was bulging out revealing its inner veins.

The finger of that man, who was supposed to be strong, melted. The skin slightly became crunchy and the inner flesh started to get loosen out of heat. The brown finger slowly started to change colour and shape. The reddish brown tint on the burnt surface hinted me that, the finger is well cooked and in order to prevent them from getting incinerated, I quickly moved it away and placed it in the plastic plate.

This happened for the other finger pieces as well. This time I’m going to enjoy those cooked meat rather than a raw fresh piece of humans. This is my dear ignorant people out there is called ‘French fingers”. Hahahaha…..

It was so relaxing to laugh out loud.

***

It’s been two days since they met Rajeev. Both of them were busy with their classes and assignments. They were not able to meet in the evenings as well.

She was tired and was in her bed trying to sleep in her house. Her mobile ringed.

“Hey Suren here,”

“Hello dear, what was that keeping you busy these days?” enquired Vaishnavi.

“Project and work Vaish. Well, I’m not feeling well. Little feverish”

“What…!!” gasped Vaishnavi.

“Nothing serious just a fever”

“Did you take tablets?”

“No, have to visit the doctor. I’ve been feeling tired for the past two days”

“Ohhh!! I’m coming right away and will visit the doctor” replied Vaishnavi.

“No, I’ll take care”

“No Suren, you need someone to accompany you. I can’t leave you in such a state. Give me 15 minutes, we will go together to Hospital” saying so she hurried to get ready and visit Surendar at his place.

Surendar and Vaishnavi came out of the hospital.

“We have to come back tomorrow evening to meet the doctor again with the blood test report.” said Surendar.

“Hmmm…I’ll too join you. Hope this is just a viral fever”

“Doctor has sent the blood sample to some laboratory. We could have tested in Rajeev’s laboratory itself”

“Alright Suren, now do not worry. Let’s go home and take rest” replied Vasihnavi.

●●●

It was almost 9.00 pm and I was still in lab. No new sample test files have come. I should probably look into the skin sample given by Suren for their research.

I took the small packet to the testing section. The skin was still wet and I could extract blood from it, as it was preserved with anti-coagulants. My job is easier now. I have to extract the blood and test it.

My mobile phone beeped.

“Hello Rajeev here”

The call took 10 minutes to get over and I’ve also been informed that I’ve received a file for blood testing from a Hospital. I came out of the testing section to get the vial containing the blood sample of that patient.

I thought let me complete Surendar’s first and take up official request later.

I took the blood sample in a test tube and entered the testing section. The blood plasma was thick. I added few drop of anti coagulating agents and allowed it to settle. I added few more drops so as to prevent the blood from clotting. I was sure that with this amount of solution, the platelets would have been disabled.

The Serum was transparent and slight yellowish colour. The settled RBC components were dark and settled solidly at the bottom of the test tube.

It was time for the real test. I took a sample of the blood serum into a small glass petry dish and added the pH solution and placed it in the device for determining the value. The device was performing its functions with the blood sample and the solution mixture. It took solid 15 minutes for the device to let out a mild beep.

The pH value indicator in the small LCD display was 8 and the serum sample turned blue. Was this a condition for haemocyanin blood? Not possible. He is human being after all. The sample blood was subjected to few more tests and was flabbergasted to see the reports concluding to one single condition.

I was little confused. It took me a minute of time to realise that I’ve done the testing on a wrong blood sample. It should have been done with the blood extracted from the skin sample given by Surendar but I did this in the official blood sample received from the hospital.

I was more awestruck than confused as the test results were perfectly positive for yet another condition.

Not knowing what to do next, I looked into the name of the patient just to check who was that poor soul belonged to this blood. I couldn’t control my eyes going wide and heart beating faster.

I quickly took the samples from the skin sample given by Surendar and carried out the diagnostics. I now knew what to do!

●●●

Vaishnavi was in the cafeteria waiting for her friend and her mobile phone ringed. It was the call from Rajeev.

“Hey Vaishnavi, I have collected the information for your thesis from the skin sample which you and Suren gave me”

“Wow! That’s wonderful. Hope to meet you and get the details” said Vaishnavi excitedly.

“No need Vaishnavi, I’ve sent the details to your email Ids”

“Ohh, thank you so much Rajeev. I’ll check and visit you once again with Surendar”

“Definitely Vaishnavi, I’m eager to meet you and most importantly Surendar again”

“Fine then. I’ll get back to you later this evening. Bye!”

“Bye Vaishanvi”

●●●

I’m so happy today. I’ve found another man of my species. All these days, I’ve been waiting to meet one such person with whom I can share man meats. Today’s laboratory results made me reach cloud nine. The blood sample which I tested gave a positive for my species of humans – humans who love eating humans!

The feeling is so exhilarating. I’ve spent all my nights alone eating and chomping human fingers and flesh. From now on, I can have another one of me sharing the dishes.

I slowly chewed the cold uncooked piece of a man’s femur flesh. I would also like to check mails again. As I was browsing through the mails, I suddenly stumbled upon the mail I sent to Vaishnavi. Scrolling through the details I scanned the whole email line by line.

They have found a flesh of someone who belongs to my genus and the best part is they are doing a research on the same!

Ahhhhhh!!! What a world I’m into.

The email which I sent definitely misses small information. All technical details are perfectly fine. I can assure a perfect centum for their thesis report. But…But, I’m sure something missing.

I took the coffee cup and kissed a mild sip to its brim. I loved the coffee salty. Yes, more than sugar, I loved the salt in the milk and the coffee tasted heaven. I do drink sweet coffees but somehow, salty ones are more refreshing and soothing to my soul.

Aahh, now I remember, ‘the salt’ part was missed out in the email. Hope this will be a crucial information in the thesis report.

After quickly drafting an update email, I called up Vaishnavi

●●●

Vaishnavi was having a good time with Surendar in the guest house. Surendar has turned romantic again. He sings, he smiles and adores her so much. The balcony’s curtain was waving with the breeze wading through the house’s ventilation.

It was tea time again.

“I’ll make coffee for her highness today” informed Surendar.

“With pleasure” she said.

As Surendar entered the kitchen singing and humming, he knew it was going to be another fun filled evening.

Vaishanvi’s phone rang as she was trying to get up from the sofa. It was Rajeev.

“Hey Vaishnavi, I just sent an email with important update on your thesis on Cannibalism. Just check, it will be useful for your project presentation”

“Oh, thanks a lot, I’ll check. How are you doing?”

“I’m doing good Vaishnavi, thanks. I’m in a hurry, I’ll see ya then”

“Okay bye bye!”

Vaishnavi opened her laptop and checked her inbox for email from Rajeev. There was one email from Rajeev amidst the dozens of forward emails from friends.

As she was reading the email, she was completely awestruck with the concept of drinking coffee with salt. She knew her thesis is going to be a successful and praised one in the college.

Surendar returned with two cups of coffee neatly kept in the saucer one for him and one for her.

“Here it is baby. This is for you!” Surendar gave the coffee cup to her as he settled with another one.

She sipped the coffee and it was so sweet, may be her beloved’s hands are doing magic to her senses. Both of them were drowned in the mesmerising sight of each other.

She didn’t know when her cup got emptied. She kept her coffee cup on the table as Surendar’s mobile ringed from the other room.

Surendar kept the cup on the table and excused himself to pick up the mobile kept in his desk.

“Hey call from my professor” he announced and became busy.

Vaishnavi was waiting for almost 5 minutes. He was still on call. She noticed his coffee was getting cold. Having her cup emptied soon, she didn’t want to waste half cup of coffee going waste. She can always make another cup of coffee for him.

She leaned and picked up his cup and slowly raised it to her lips to have a sip. He was still on call. She smirked and sipped the coffee tight. As soon as the coffee landed in her tongue, she couldn’t resist the presence of the coffee inside her mouth and it took a fraction of second for her to spit it back to the cup.

OMG 😦 looking at the picture and title I really thought its going to be a lovely romantic story with a cup of coffee. But here it turns out to be a scary story of a man and his love for human flesh but good imagination though well done 😀